Drilling collar



June 24, 1941. F. U 5 N R 2,247,173

DRILLING COLLAR Filed March 27, 1939 DRJHLILHNG @CGILMR Fritz lliluntsinger, Vents Application March 27, 1939, SerialNo.-26 l,36ll (Cl. 308%) 6' Claims.

This invention relates to drilling collars, and more particularly to drilling collars, couplings or connecting members or subs as the same are utilized in drill strings as ordinarily employed in the rotary process of drilling wells for the recovery of gas, water or the like.

In drilling wells a drill string is employed which is made up of sections-of drill pipe coupled together through the medium of drilling collars, subs, connectors and the like, and in the process of drilling the wells as the drill string is both rotated and moved longitudinally, these surfaces are subjected to great wear.

The surfaces of these coupling members are likewise utilized as the medium through which tongs or other wrenches or gripping means are applied to the drill string for the purpose of making up and breaking down the drill string into sections as the same is lowered into, or removed from, the well. As these connecting members become worn during this process, they provide unsafe means of connecting the drill string sections together and also fail to provide adequate surfaces to which the tongs, wrenches or other gripping means may be applied.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide such coupling members with an improved wearing surface either as a matter of re-- pair of existing coupling members or as applicable to new coupling members before they are placed in use.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a wearing surface for such a drilling collar, sub, or connecting member, which is provided with a wear resistance surface made up of a pair of substantially semi-cylindrical sections of high Brinell.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method of repairing worn drill collars, subs, or the like, without disrupting the sealing surfaces of such connecting members and to enable the building up thereon of a wear resistance surface by the application thereto of a high Brinell steel surface welded in position through the use of bonding welding material supplemented with. welding bids of high Brihell steel.

Other objects and advantages of this invention it is believed will be ing detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof as I have chosen to illustrate the same in connection with one form of such coupling member, namely, a drilling sub.

In the drawing:

Figure l isan elevation partly in section of a connecting member embodying my invention.

apparent from the follow- 7 A longitudinal points of Figure 2 is a plan section of the connecting member taken on the plane of line 2-2 oi Figure 1.

Figure 1 indicates a connecting member of a well known type commonly employed in the art including a body i having connecting threads 2 and t at its opposed ends and where the body l is formed adjacent the threads 2i and t with sealing surfaces i and 5 adapted to cooperate with complementary tapered sealing surfaces or other sections of the drill string to form a fluid-tight connection.

In accordance with my invention, I apply to the body i between the sealing surfaces a and 5 a sleeve having a wear-resistant surface by first turning the body l down to form a seat of reduced diameter as indicated at t, which reduced diameter may be substantially equal to, or just greater than, the diameter of the threads at their upper portion. In turning down this section 01 the body i, I taper the ends of the turned-down section downwardly toward the center of the body as indicated to form tapered or inclined faces l. I then position upon this seat, a plurality of shell-form sections, preferably two substantially semi-cylindrical sections of high wearresistant steel such, for example, as 41-40 chrome molybdenum steel, heat-treated to a hardness of between 320 and 360 Brinell. These semi-cylindrical sections t and t have their joining or adjacent edges tapered outwardly as indicated at it in order to form a V-groove at the meeting, or substantial meeting, of said sections. The ends of the semicylindrical sections are also tapered as indicated at it to form with the taper l outwardly flaring welding grooves or recesses it.

In applying the semi-cylindrical sections t and t to the undercut portion 5 of the body l, I also form one or more holes 53 in each semicylindrical section it and a through which the semi-cylindrical members are welded to the body 5.

In applying the semi-cylindrical members to the bore they are held in position with any suitable form of welding clamp and are first tacked in position at points along the cylindrical end welds and the longitudinal welds between the sections it and ti and through the connecting holes iii. When firmly tacked in position, the welding clamps may be removed so as to permit the coupling to be rotated to such positions as to permit of welding in the most advantageous position; thus they rotate to where down-hand welds may be accomplished.

In each of the holes l3 and between the tapers ll and I and II, the welding is preferably performed by first performing a bonding weld using a relatively soft steel bonding weld rod and welding the two semi-cylindrical sections together between the tapers it! as indicated at H with this bonding weld, and likewise welding the ends of the semi-cylindrical sections to the body I in the welding grooves l2 with a bonding weld as indicated at l5, and correspondingly producing a bonding weld IS in the holes l3 between the sections 8 and 9 and the body of the couler.

p After the bonding welds are completed, the surfaces are built up through the use of a high Brinell steel welding rod, the Brinell of'which substantially corresponds with the Brinell of the chrome molybdenum steel of the sections 8 and 9. This is performed by welding the high Brinell welding rod over the bonding welds indicated at H, l and 16 to build out these surfaces with high Brinell steel as indicated at l8, l9 and 20 to the diameter of thesections 8 and 9.

After the welding is completed, the connector may be then turned down to the desired diameter turning ofi at the same time the welds l8, l9 and 20 to produce a smooth, even and continuous surface. It is preferable that the surface as thus built up be of slightly greater diameter than the body I as indicated so that the wear incident to rotation and longitudinal movement is taken upon the built-up wear resisting surface. The circular welds formed in the welding grooves I2 are thus tapered at their outer surface as indicated at 21 from the diameter of the body I to the enlarged diameter of this new'wearresistant surface.

Having fully described my invention, it is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the details herein set forth, but my invention is of the full scope of the appended claims,

Iclaim:

1. In a drilling connector, the combination of a body having a thread at one end and cylindrical wear members adjacent the thread, the cylindrical wear members being formed of two substantially semi-cylindrical sections fixedly set into said body and being of a length less than said cylindrical wear section, the said cylindrical wear members being formed of high Brinell steel and welds fused to the body and fused to said wear sections at a pair of longitudinal welding seams and fused to the body and to said sections at end circular seams, said welded seams being formed of the said welds as a bonding weld upon which is superimposed a weld of high Brinell wear-resisting welding material, and said semi-cylindrical-sections being initially secured to the wear section at points other than at said seams.

2. In a drilling connecting member, the combination of a body having a cylindrical wear section composed of two substantially semi-cylindrical sleeve members set into the body and being of a length less than the body, the said semi-cylindrical wear members being formed of heat-treated steel, welds fused into the adjacent edges of said sleeve members connecting the same together and fused directly to the body adjacent the longitudinal edges of the sleeve members to form a pair of longitudinal welding seams and end circular seams.

3. In a chilling connector, the combination of a body having sealing shoulders at its opposed ends, the body between the sealing shoulders having two substantially semi-cylindrical sleeve members set into the body, the sleeve members being'of a length less than the body between said shoulders, said semi-cylindrical wear members being formed of steel, and welds fused to the body and to the side edges of the sleeve members to secure thesame together at a pair of longitudinal diametrically opposed seams, and welds fused to the body and to the ends of the sleeve sections at end circular seams, said welding seams being formed of a bonding weld whereby the semi-cylindrical members are welded together and to the body and a wear-resistant weld superimposed on the bonding weld, the wear-resistant weld being of a hardness corresponding with that of the steel semi-cylindrical members.

4. A drill connecting member having a substantially cylindrical body with threaded ends and a wear section of increased diameter at its middle portion, said wear section being turned down at its middle portion to form a seat with inclined end faces; and a wear sleeve composed of a plurality of shell-form sleeve-sections with beveled ends and side edges, said sleeve sections being shorter than the said seat; means for initially securing said sleeve sections on said seat so that their end edges cooperate with said inclined end faces to form a welding groove at each end of the wear sleeve, saidv sleeve sections being of a width such that their longitudinal edges are disposed apart so as to leave portions of the periphery of the seat uncovered therebetween, and circumferential welds at the ends of the sleeve sections fused directly into the said uncovered portions of the seat, and longitudinal welds fused directly into theexposed portions of the seat between the side edges of the sleeve sections and fused into the beveled side edges of said sections. 5. A drilling connecting member having a substantially cylindrical body with threaded ends and a wear section of increased diameter at its middle portion, said wear section being turned down at its middle portion to form a seat with inclined end faces; and a wear sleeve composed of a plurality of shell-form sleeve sections with:

- beveled ends and beveled side edges, said sleeve sections being shorter than the bottom-length of said seat; fastening means passing through the said sleeve sections for securing the same on said seat with their end edges spaced from said inclined end faces, so as to form welding grooves with the groove bottom formed by the seat, circumferential welds fused directly into the seat face at the bottom of said groove and to the inclined end faces thereof and to the beveled end faces of the sleeve sections; said sleeve sections being of a width suflicient that their longitudinal edges are disposed apart so as to leave portions of the periphery of the seat uncovered therebetween; and longitudinal welds fused directly into the expo; ed portions of the seat between the side edges of the sleeve sections, and fused into the beveled side edges of the sections.

6. In a drilling connector, the combination of a connector body of substantially cylindrical form having a thread at one end, said body having an area of reduced diameter with inclined welding faces at its ends, forming a seat between said welding faces, a cylindrical wear member comprising two substantially semi-cylindrical shell-form sections received on said seat and having inclined end faces cooperating with the end faces on said bodyto form annular welding grooves at the ends of the wear member, said sections having inclined adjacent side faces lying adjacent to each other but separated so that a portion of the seat face cooperates with the inclined side faces to form longitudinal welding grooves, bonding welds formed of welding metal partially filling said grooves and fused to the faces of the seat in the longitudinal grooves between the longitudinal inclined side faces of the shell sections to secure the shell sections rig- 

